Twenty Year Anniv Article

This file part of www.dodgejeffgen.com website

THE DODGE-JEFFERSON COUNTIES GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

AN ANECDOTAL HISTORY

By Bill Jannke (One Who Was There!)

Twenty years! I still cannot fathom it! Twenty blessed years we have been together! I certainly would never have thought this group would have had the staying power back in the "old days". Yet, here we are. What a wonderful testimony to the indomitable spirit of genealogists! I was one of the founding members who came together that auspicious day in September, 1981, at the Watertown Public Library. There, in the old meeting room (this was before the library was remodeled) a handful of us met and held the first meeting of what was then called the Watertown Genealogy Club. Though it is sure to be hotly debated, but I take credit for suggesting the name Watertown Genealogical Society, by which name we were known by the beginning of 1982. I liked the sound of it and I felt, and so did the rest, that this gave us an air of importance.

I was the only male for the first few meetings. At that first meeting, as near as I can remember, were Elaine Smith, Pam Gutsche, the late Gwen Lamberton, Betty Huebner, Dawn Marshall, Delores Rabbach (I think), the late Marian Kerwin and myself. There may have been a few others, but their names escape me at the moment. Shirley Radtke was also a founding member, but she was, as I recall, unable to attend that first meeting. At the first meeting Pam Gutsche was elected chairperson and Elaine Smith took on the role of secretary and treasurer. One of the first things we did was to establish dues of $3.00 a year and take out a subscription of the Genealogical Helper magazine.

Now let me tell you all a little something about those dues. Elaine Smith always took great pride in letting me know that I was not officially a member until 1982. And she is correct. Now I could lie and tell you all manner of things why I didn't join at first, but the truth is that in those days I was a struggling (and I do mean struggling!) college student and money was very tight. Then, too, who was to know if this group would continue? So I didn't become an official paid member until 1982--but I was there at the first.

In fact, I and several others were all working towards the same goal of establishing a genealogical society. The whole business began when the library held a family history lecture as part of a special event and many of us met there for the first time. This was followed by a special workshop conducted by Betty Swift at St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Shortly thereafter a small item appeared in the Watertown Daily Times asking for those interested in forming a group to contact Shirley Radtke or Betty Huebner. I was in communication with Marian Kerwin at this same time to try to get a group going. So genealogy was in the air in the early 1980s. In 1983 it was announced that the library would be undergoing a radical remodeling, so we were forced to move to new quarters. So in 1983 we moved our monthly meetings to the basement of the Watertown Municipal Building. Here we began to grow and to have our first guest speakers, among them Lois Molitor form the Milwaukee Genealogical Society who came in a snow storm and nearly got stuck in Watertown. Our library began to grow as well. We also got a new member about this time in the person of Roberta Fosdal, surely one of the most important people this group ever acquired. The library was finished in 1984 and we moved once again to the large meeting room there. We acquired Marilyn Knackert as our librarian at this time and she, followed by others, began to lug boxes of books and magazines to and from the monthly meetings. We would move two more times, first to the basement of the Valley Bank and finally (we hope) to our present meeting rooms in Heritage Hall in 1994.

Our first elected officials were Pam Gutsche, president, Elaine Smith secretary/treasurer and myself as vice president. Pam was succeeded by Shirley Radtke who served for five years. Under her presidency we adopted our first set of by-laws. Following Shirley as president was myself, then Roberta Fosdal, Mary Mallow and presently Shirley Hess. While we were meeting at the library, in 1986, Roberta and I began the group's newsletter, "Out On A Limb". We thought it was pretty good, but we gladly relinquished control of it to Elaine Smith who wrote and produced it until about 1998 when the Fosdals and Ryan Vogel, their grandson, took it over. This newsletter was one of the best things we created and it led to an entire slate of publications, starting in 1991 with the publication of the Pioneer/Century Pedigree Book. This was followed by indexes to bride and grooms listings at the Jefferson County Courthouse.

A word about the P/C Book, as it is called. This book was an out-growth of the pioneer/century family certificate program that the group launched in 1987, as a part of the sesquicentennial celebration of the city of Watertown . The names on the certificates were hand-lettered by me in those days and were awarded at a grand ceremony held at the Welcome Inn in Watertown , with Ben Feld, a local historian, as the guest speaker. Oh, the work involved with those "blankety-blank" certificates! Elaine Smith, in yet another role, took it upon herself to dig into each submission and either correct or add to their work. It was exhausting!!! Thankfully, today we have a reasonably clear set of guidelines and the lettering is handled by Doris Quinn on a machine!

In 1991 we began to hold our semi-annual workshops. The first one featured George and Louise Everton and was very well attended, about 111 people from all over the state coming. Other seminars were held in 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999 and our last one was just held in September. Notable speakers at these events have included Arlene Eakle, a nationally known speaker and writer on genealogy and one of the authors of "The Source", Jack Brissee, president of the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society and Jim Hanson of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Seminars have been held at St. Mark's Parish Hall, the United Methodist Parish Hall and St. Henry's Parish Hall, all in Watertown.

In 1994, with the move into a new building and the ability to finally have a permanent library (though we did have the luxury of two locked cabinets at the Valley Bank) we took a long hard look at our collection and decided that we were not just based in Watertown, but rather collected information on both Dodge & Jefferson County so we formally adopted a new name, the Dodge-Jefferson Counties Genealogical Society (DJCGS) in order to better reflect our sphere of interest.

I could go on and tell individual stories, but they are only interesting to me and to a select handful of members, so I will close this little history. Today, the group numbers in the 700s, we have over 1700 items in our collection and we are the custodians of two very important sets of records, the Jefferson County Clerk of Court records and the records of the Jefferson County Abstract Office. Our collection of church and cemetery records are some of the most used materials in the library, as is our on-going clipping project. We have a web site which generated hundreds of hits each day, in short, there is no stopping us!

What about the future? The same few people that have always seemed to run the group still run the group. Where are the fresh faces? Where is the new blood? Who will come up with solutions to dilemmas that currently plague the group, such as a lack of space? This is not a time to reflect nostalgically upon the past, but rather to use our past as a rallying cry to generate new members who will work proactively for the group's benefit and lead it into the new century as capably (or perhaps more so) than those who led the group in the past. Volunteer!!! Take an office!!! We aren't going to live forever!!!! Now is the time for you to step forward and take your place!!! It's been a wild ride, these past twenty years, full of ups and downs for the group. But, thankfully, the downs have never out-weighed the ups and with luck we will continue to weather anything that comes our way in the future. Here's a toast to us, and to all who have passed on, and to all who were members and still are--to the DJCGS--long may it prosper and remain as an asset to family historians everywhere!

Bill Jannke

Genealogical Society Celebrates 20 Years

Excerpt from Watertown Daily Times, 08 24 2001

This Watertown tree has deep roots. The Dodge-Jefferson Counties Genealogical Society, Inc. is celebrating its 20th year this September. Since 1981, the society has collected and preserved data and assisted people in researching their family history.

The society own several special records that no one in the state or country has, and all materials are located in the genealogical library. The library is housed in Heritage Hall, 504 S. Fourth St., and holds a wealth of information, including area church and cemetery records, Jefferson County records, obituary and marriage clipping scrapbooks, city and prairie farmer directories, family and county histories and passenger and emigrant lists.

They also have the International Genealogical Index (IGI), Family Tree Maker World Family Tree CDs, Wisconsin pre-1907 Index of Vital Records on microfiche, hundreds of genealogy-related books, newsletters from other societies around the state, and much more.

The Jefferson County court records from 1842-1965 include information on divorces, murder cases and civil suits. The society does not have such records from Dodge County because its court records were destroyed in a fire at the courthouse in 1877.

"To be able to touch these ancient documents and realize just how life was actually lived in very remarkable," society secretary Bill Jannke said.

Before the society moved to its current location in Heritage Hall, it stored materials in the Watertown Public Library and had meetings at city hall and what was then Valley Bank, toting materials from location to location.

"Moving to Heritage Hall was perhaps the greatest move we've ever made," Jannke said. "It enabled us to start a semi-permanent library."

To reflect its scope of coverage in Dodge and Jefferson counties, the society changed its name from the Watertown Genealogical Society and incorporated under the category of, an educational organization in January of 1995. The group now has over 760 members from the area and around the United States and globe.

Yearly membership dues are $12, and include four issues of the society's "Out On A Limb newsletter". Membership allows free use of the research library on the days it is open. A fee of $2 per visit is charged to nonmembers.

Summer is the biggest time for non-local visitors to the library. Jannke estimates between 50 and 60 people from out of the area visit the library each month.

"Generally speaking they go away very happy. In some cases they've cracked that difficult nut they've had several years trying to finding their relatives," Jannke said.

The library has an extensive selection of Irish and German materials because those are the dominant groups that settled in the area. The society is one of the only local groups to have a document listing every German arrival in the United States from 1850-1893. The library also has the complete run, minus two volumes, of Watertown's German newspaper "Watertown Weltburger" from 1860-1932.

The hobby of genealogical research has undergone changes since Jannke started in the 1970s. At that time there were no published resources or "how-to" books.

"Right after 'Roots" came on TV, all the sudden everybody and their uncle wanted to know where their ancestors came from," Jannke said. "It seems to be a fad that is sticking around a lot longer than most."

The local historian has been researching his own family history for 25 years, with many open-ended questions remaining. "You don't ever really come to an end in your research," Jannke said. He added that many people want to research their family history for medical purposes.

"Most people that come down to the hall are overwhelmed, each time they come they find something a little different and something that advances their search a little more"

Genealogical work is a trade at requires a great deal of patience. Jannke translates many of the documents from German to English. He also helped translate St. Henry's church records from Latin to English, an effort that took over two years.

People from most areas of the United States and as far away as the Cayman lslands, California, New England and Alaska have come to use the genealogical society's materials.

The society Web site was created by Ryan Vogel several years ago, and the regularly-updated resource now receives hundreds of hits each week.

"Genealogical researching on the Web is becoming a big business because there are so many avenues," Jannke said. "At times we get as many e-mail requests as in-person visits, especially in the winter."

The group averages six guest speakers at its meetings each year, and records many of the talks for broadcast on Community Cable 13.

Jannke emphasizes that anyone interested in genealogy can use this valuable resource. "Coming, down to the hall should not intimidate anybody," he said. "It might seem a little, overwhelming to look at the sheer volume of materials and think 'where do I go from here? "But we have some of the nicest, most helpful people around."

The genealogical society board meets the second Monday of each month at 7:15 p.m. at Heritage Hall. The library opens at 4 p.m. preceding monthly board meetings.

The library is open Tuesdays from 9 a.m. until noon, the second Monday of the month from 4-7 p.m., and Thursdays from 1-4 p.m., except for the last Thursday of the month, which has hours of 6-9 p.m.